Page 97 of The Syndicater (Dark Verse 6)

"Why was I returned?"

He didn't move, but he took his time, as if figuring the answer out, putting together a puzzle only he knew all the pieces of, keeping her on the edge. Then, he opened his eyes and tilted his head toward the file in her hand. "Because of that."

She put the file down on the bench between them. "Please explain." It was a request. She would have begged if need be, her desperation for this one answer stronger than her pride.

"Lorenzo Maroni was a puppet for The Syndicate," he started, pushing his gloved hands into his pockets. "Maybe he wanted to get out, maybe he didn't. We won't ever know. But he was the main power-hungry party in the Alliance, and hence theone who restarted the experiments by supplying the kids to The Syndicate."

"Okay," she nodded, following so far. "So, what does that have to do with me?"

"So," he drawled out, almost lazily in his deep voice. "Lorenzo Maroni took Gabriel's daughter, Zenith, and the Reaper's daughter, you, as collateral to keep them quiet. Except your father, the Reaper, made a deal with him. He had this file on the project and in exchange for your safe return, he would hand it over to Lorenzo. And Lorenzo, bastard that he was, brought you back but used you as a tool to keep Vitalio in line."

"How do you know this?"

"Because my interrogation told me your father had the file, and I found it in Maroni's office the other night."

Morana sat in stunned disbelief, her heart hurting all over again for a father she'd never met but for a brief moment, but who had loved her and protected her for as long as he lived. A sob caught in her throat, her emotions all over the place as she stared at the file, the same file her father had touched and exchanged to bring her back from a fate so horrible it made her shudder.

And something occured to her. "Do you know his real name? My birth name?"

The Shadow Man gave her a look. "Yes."

She stared him in the eyes before looking away, not forgetting that he wasn't a man she wanted to piss off. She opened her mouth to ask, closed it, opened it again, and closed it again.

"If someday you're ready to know, just ask," he said quietly.

"And you'll just share it?"

He shrugged. "Keeping it doesn't mean a thing to me, but it does to you. You've been helpful in my quest so yes, for that alone, I will."

Morana nodded. She wasn't ready, not for an identity crisis, not now when there was already so much to deal with. Maybe she never would be. She had always been Morana, grew up owning the name, fitting into it like a tailored dress. It was the name her lover, her friends, her almost son called her. She didn't need anything else, her birth name a part of her past she had to let go of and move forward without.

They sat in silence for a few minutes, Morana mulling everything she'd learned over, and him thinking whatever he was. The silence, though heavy, wasn't uncomfortable.

Her phone buzzed in her pocket, a call from Amara, checking in since her hour was up. She picked up. "I'm okay."

"Where are you?" Amara asked, her voice low, letting Morana know that Dante was sleeping.

Morana looked at her side, at the man who was considering her. "Meeting the Shadow Man."

"Morana!" Amara exclaimed in a hushed voice. "Alone? Are you out of your mind?"

"He won't hurt me." She hoped. The man just smiled, the threat he'd leveled out earlier still in her mind. He would hurt her only if she hurt Luna. His track record said the same.

"I'll come get you," Amara was already moving.

"No," Morana rushed. She still had some questions. "I'll be back in an hour. If I'm not, let others know."

Amara hesitated. "Are you sure?"

"Yes."

"Okay. I have my phone with me."

Morana nodded and hung up, the call making her think of another question. "Why did you lead us to Xander? You told him about us, why? And you still call him sometimes. Why?"

His one light eye darkened at the question, the dark one already deep. He looked back out over the river.

"You said you don't keep secrets from your family," he leveled her words back at her. "Are you sure you want to know? Because this secret isn't yours to tell and it isn't yours to keep. You will be left conflicted."

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